After the Manhattan Declaration (MD) was announced, John MacArthur quickly but gently produced an article why he didn’t sign it. MacArthur (by producing one of the first “why not” articles) had put other signers (leading conservative Reformed voices) in odd spot. They now had to defend why they signed the document with Catholics and the Greek Orthodox. One of whom was Ligon Duncan. Right after MacArthur’s “No Article,” Duncan twittered “I soon will come up with why I signed the MD.” And he did. Here. And I find Duncan’s article somewhat defensive. In a nutshell, he says, “I signed the MD because it accentuates the difference between us (evangelicals, here including Reformed) and others.” Really?! That’s odd. You sign a document not because of the positive affirmations in the document but to clarify the differences that are not there? And Duncan gave final assurance, “We continue to love and respect one another, and we all want to continue to serve and work with one another. The bonds of our fellowship are unbroken.”

Now, someone obviously does not think so. The Man, R.C. He goes one step further than MacArthur and rebukes the signers. uh oh. Here. Now there is no turning back. R.C. said it. “I have dear friends in the ministry who have signed this document, and my soul plummeted when I saw their names. I think my friends were misled and that they made a mistake, and I want to carefully assert that I have spoken with some of them personally about their error and have expressed my hope that they will remove their signatures from this document.”

I happen to agree with MacArthur and R.C. But here’s the thing. It seems like MD didn’t stir up a thing in the real world (chances are you never heard about it), and now it’s us who are suffering the division. So looks like MD was a Lose-Lose for both ends.